Advice for RCN members during BMA industrial action

Published: 15 June 2012

The RCN has published Guidance for nursing staff (PDF 208KB) [see how to access PDF files] who may be affected when members of the British Medical Association (BMA) take industrial action on Thursday 21 June.

The RCN is not involved in the dispute and members will be working as normal on that day.

The guidance sets out RCN advice to members on that day. In summary, it says:

• members should attend their place of work as normal
• members should not volunteer to cover the work of colleagues who are taking industrial action
• members should adhere to  Nursing and Midwifery Council requirements at all times
• members should monitor the work environment and report any concerns to their line manager
• where it has not been possible to deliver care as per normal this should be recorded in the patient's nursing record with a full explanation 
• if there are complaints from patients or clients about the delivery of services these should be processed through the employer's normal complaints procedure.

Further information

The BMA announced on 30 May that its members would be taking industrial action in dispute over changes to doctors’ pensions. The decision followed a ballot of more than 104,000 members with 79 per cent of GPs, 84 per cent of consultants and 92 per cent of junior doctors who responded, voting in favour of industrial action.    

Members of the BMA will only be undertaking “urgent” or “emergency” work on 21 June. This is defined as work that cannot be safely postponed to another day. All doctors who would normally be expected to be working on 21 June will be at their normal place of work.